


Halflings

by AsagiStilinski



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: 12 Days of Sterek, Alternate Universe, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Derek is a Christmas Baby, Fluff, M/M, Shapeshifter Stiles, Yeti Stiles, alternate universe- santa's elves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 16:11:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8807482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsagiStilinski/pseuds/AsagiStilinski
Summary: Derek hated Christmas EveHe hated Christmas too, to an extent, but he especially hated Christmas EveWich, he knew, was incredibly ironic, considering he was one of Santa's elves





	

**Author's Note:**

> I just couldn't pass up the chance to do a Santa's Elves AU

Derek hated Christmas Eve

He hated Christmas too, to an extent, but he especially hated Christmas Eve

Wich, he knew, was incredibly ironic, considering he was one of Santa's elves and Christmas Eve was one of only two days he got off per year- well, nights, in this case

But that was exactly WHY he hated it

Every Christmas Eve, once the sleigh is packed, the reindeer are harnessed, and Santa is taking off into the sky, the elves have a party to celebrate a year's job well done

Derek... was not a party person

This thing always reminded him of how lonely and generally terrible with people he was, the only reason he even went in the first place was to see the globe in the center of the room slowly light up as gifts were passed around to the children of the world

He loved watching it light up, it seemed to glow a little bit more every year, but make no mistake, once the last light came on, Derek was out of there so he could sleep in the next morning

It was a little past eight at the moment, just a few hours left...

And so far, pretty much so good, no one had come to bother him yet, he was alone, as per usual, everything was going just fi-

"Hi,"

Nevermind

"I uh... I've never seen you around before, what division are you in?"

The elf who had sat down at the bar next to him was .. beautifull, he had to admit, with unruly brown hair, gorgeous brown eyes, and moles speckling across his lean body and baby face

Derek was not happy

"Dolls,"

"Oh cool cool, I'm in crafts myself, my dad always said 'the great thing about crafts is that you don't have to put things together', so what kind of dolls do you make? Baby dolls? American Girls?"

"Fashion dolls,"

Derek hoped he would take the hint soon that he wasn't the most *social* elf out there....

But apparently he didn't

"Oh cool, like Barbies, Superhero Girls, Monster High, stuff like that?"

"Yes...."

"You know I used to LOVE Monster High, before the reboot, I don't know what happened to it this year but it sucked all of the originality out, really censored it, the message was absolutely destroyed and replaced wi-"

"I'm part werewolf,"

He let that sit there, the information hanging in the air for a moment, and waited for the brown-eyed elf to say something

"...Ok...?"

"Most people don't ... I just... when most people find out I'm half werewolf they ... you know.... run? Go away? Leave?"

"Ohhh, you don't have to worry about that Big Guy," the other elf smirked, leaning over and gently patting Derek on the shoulder

"I'm a halfling too so I get it,"

"You are?" Derek asked in surprise

After all, there weren't alot of halflings at the North Pole, they were something of a rarity, for semi-obvious reasons

"Yeah, I'm half-yeti," he shrugged back casually

Derek didn't find that funny

Being a halfling was hard, it meant facing alot of stereotypes and pre-concieved notions and just... othering...

The more exotic your other half was, the less people seemed to have any interest or respect for you

And yetis...

Yetis don't create halflings

They don't shapeshift to begin with

So the fact that is guy was saying that- especially so casually- just proved he was doing nothing but making fun of Derek

"Let me guess, you don't believe me,"

"No kidding," Derek huffed back, turning to his glass again

The guy sighed, rolling his eyes and rolling his sleeves up, scooting a little bit closer to show Derek as his hand started to shift, no longer appearing simply humanoid, but now growing to twice it's size, growing white fur and nails extending into claws... sharper and sharper... thicker and thicker... darkening to black...

"Oh my God..." he breathed

"Believe me now?"

He swallowed, nodding a little numbly and feeling a wave of guilt wash over him

Here he had been complaining all the time about people judging his hybrid status without knowing him and he had done the same thing....

"I... I'm so sorry," he stuttered out, watching the elf's hand as it shifted back to normal

"It's fine, really, happens all the time, people don't believe because they don't know that yetis can shapeshift but they can so..."

"Still, if anyone should be more open-minded it should be me,"

"Dude... really... don't worry about it ok? I'm just glad to have finally met another halfling, I'm Stiles by the way,"

"Derek," he said softly, glancing down at Stiles' outstretched hand and carefully reaching out to give it a shake

"Nice to meet you Derek, I don't wanna sound cliche' but ... why are you sitting over here all alone? There's a celebration going on you know,"

"I'm not a party person," Derek shrugged back vaguely

"Oh, I get it, I'm never that great at parties myself, I can never seem to.. you know... get in the groove?"

Derek wasn't quite sure what that meant, but he nodded along anyway, he didn't want to dismiss Stiles, not knowing what he knew

If people acted anything to him like they acted to Derek upon finding out Stiles was half yeti...

No wonder he had a hard time at parties

"So uh... what kinds of plans do you have for tommorrow? Any?"

"Not really, sleeping in, my sisters will likely visit at some point,"

"Visit? For Christmas?"

"For... my birthday,"

Stiles' eyes widened so much that Derek thought they might just pop out of his skull

"You're a Christmas baby? Dude... I don't know if I should be jealous or symapthetic,"

"Thanks..."

"Well I mean on the one hand being an elf born on Christmas? That's incredible! That's AWESOME, Christmas is the best day of the year! But on the other hand... ouch... I mean... you know... that's probably pretty lonely and frustrating because everyone is so obsessed with Christmas that they don't notice,"

"Atleast it's on the only day off we get per year,"

Stiles pouted a little, shoulders sagging

"Yeah but... you don't get a special birthday cookie cake or get to hear your name announced on the speakers in the morning... that's one of the best parts of birthdays..."

Derek definately disagreed with that, in fact he was relieved that he didn't have to have the production made out of it like most elves did but....

That didn't mean he didn't still feel a little bit lonely

"What have you always wanted for your birthday?"

Derek blinked, staring at him in confusion

"Um-"

"Just... if you could have ONE thing, something you've wanted for a long time but have never gotten, what would it be?"

Derek thought about that for a few moments, looking down and fidgeting a little bit

He honestly had never thought about it that much, always preoccupied with other things, that and he just didn't really... care... the way that Stiles seemed to

"I guess... a snowglobe," he said quietly

"I mean... a unique one, you know? I know the North Pole has about a billion snowglobes but they're all pretty much the same, all Christmasy and... they start blending in with eachother after a wile, I like snowglobes for the... the ease of them, the music and the snow falling it's... it's peacefull, but I hate the monotony, the sameness.... I'd like something unique, something special,"

He shrugged, chewing on his lip a little

He didn't know why he was telling him all of this, he was never this open with people, but somehow, here he was, spilling his guts for no real reason

"Come on then," he heard, perking up and watching Stiles in confusion as he jumped down from his barstool and took Derek's hand, nodding for him to follow

"Where-"

"I'm taking you somewhere special, just trust me ok? Halfling to halfling, I wouldn't steer you wrong,"

Derek didn't know if he could believe that or not but...

Stiles was the only other halfling he had ever met and he had some strange desire to get to know him atleast a little bit...

So against what was probably his better judgement, he jumped down, following Stiles out of the party room and approaching the exit of the building

"Shift, we'll get there faster,"

Derek was about to protest, but before he could Stiles took the initiative, a bright white glow surrounding him as he started to grow... and grow.... and grow.... until towering over Derek, stood a massive yeti...

He swallowed, not hesitating to shift into his wolf form, wich he realized only dwarfed him even more in comparison but atleast he had speed on his side

...

Or atleast he THOUGHT he did

Once Stiles started to run though, Derek realized that the yeti's bigger, longer legs were going to be a much bigger asset than Derek's meere speed alone

He took off as fast as he could, but even at his best speed he was only barely keeping up with the jogging yeti

Thankfully wherever Stiles was leading him it wasn't far, and he stopped after only a few minutes of running through the snow

When Derek looked up, he felt a strange sensation of both anxiety and confusion wash over him, wondering why the hell they had ended up at Santa's private workshop

This was the place where Santa came up with new toys every year before sending the designs down to the main workshop for mass production

Why was Stiles bringing him here?

"What are we doing here?" he asked as they shifted back to their humanized forms

"Mm, you'll see," Stiles winked back playfully, rushing to the door and jiggling the lock

Derek was about to warn him that it wasn't going to work but to his utter shock- ... it did

The doors opened and Stiles ran in like he owned the place, Derek only hesitantly following behind him

"So you said your sisters are visiting? Let me guess, they live in the Halloween world?"

"My younger one does, my older sister lives in the human world,"

"Oh really?"

"Yeah, she has a strange fascination with them,"

"Huh... out of curiosity, if you hadn't been born on Christmas, where would you have wanted to live?"

Derek had never been asked that before, everyone just assumed he would have wanted to live here regardless but...

Just because he was born as a Christmas elf, specifically- unlike his sisters who were born in more vague times of year- didn't mean Christmas was his heart and soul

"I.... probably the Halloween world like Cora,"

That was where werewolves were most appreciated after all, it's where he would be most at home....

"Yeah, I would have liked to atleast explore the Halloween world but.. you know, even if I wasn't an elf, yetis have to live in snow and blah blah..." Stiles shrugged, wandering over to what looked like a random cabinet and ducking behind it

Derek was about to follow, but Stiles quickly stopped him

"Um... stay there a second ok? I'll be back in a minute, just ... keep talking,"

"Keep talking"?

That was probably one of the things Derek could do LEAST

He wasn't much of a talker, least of all when it came to talking about himself and talking to a stranger...

But luckily Stiles seemed to sense his nervousness and prompted him again

"So wich of your parents was the elf and who was the wolf?"

"My dad was the elf, my mom was the wolf,"

"Oh really? Mine too! Well, I mean, my mom was a yeti but you know what I mean,"

"I know," Derek said with a slight chuckle

"If you don't mind my asking, how did they meet? I mean it's easy enough for an elf to meet a yeti since they both live here but... werewolves and pretty uncommon in these parts,"

"Actually they were both in the human world at the same time but... that's a really long story,"

Derek didn't like talking about his family honestly, it hurt too much....

Luckily Stiles seemed aware of that and didn't press further, emerging a moment later with a colorfully wrapped box

"Stiles... what is that?"

"Well I couldn't really let your birthday go by uncelebrated,"

Derek was tempted to ask "Why not?" but decided against it, hesitantly taking the box and unwrapping it

And when he reached inside he pulled out... a snowglobe

A snowglobe with a wolf inside it... and when he turned the crank it played ... nothing, actually

"Oh um... tell me what kind of song you want and I'll ... add it in,"

"But... how...?"

How had Stiles made this?

Snowglobes were special, no ordinary elf could make them, only very special elf-hybrids like faery-elves could

Elves that had special magic in addition to their own, not shapeshifter-elves like he and Derek were...

"I already had most of it done, I've been experimenting on these things for a wile now and all I had to do was personalize the inside and that didn't take long so..."

"But... HOW are you capable of making these?"

Stiles grinned, offering his hand out to Derek again

"I guess you really don't keep up with gossip huh? I'm Stiles, Santa's kid,"

If Derek didn't have better reflexes than the average elf, he would have dropped the snowglobe right then and there

"Your father is SANTA?"

"Yeaaahhh...."

"And your mother is Mrs. Claus?"

"Ok, actually, no, not.. not the current one, my mom WAS Mrs. Claus but she died and .. anyway, my freind Scott's mom is actually the new Mrs. Claus, she married my dad a couple of years ago,"

Well that explained the snowglobe but little else

"You're Santa's son and you're working in the crafts department? Shouldn't you be... supervising things? Aren't you going to take over one day?"

Santas do retire after all... eventually....

"Dad wants me to have a better sense of how things work in the labor region, besides, I'm actually not that interested in being Santa, I like working on toys and staying here in the North Pole,"

That made sense he supposed, but... it was still a little odd....

Then again STILES was a little odd just by nature so he supposed it would fit

"And... you wanted to come out here, in the middle of the night, in your dad's workshop, to give me a birthday gift...?"

"Well yeah,"

Derek wasn't sure what to make of that

But... he knew it was nice, whatever it was

"Thank you," he said softly, taking a step closer and handing the snowglobe back

"And anything that isn't Christmas music or heavy metal is fine with me,"

Stiles barked a laugh, grinning and heading back to the cabinet

"Anything you say," he promised, only to pause outside the door and glance up: Mistletoe

"I guess this is kind of a mood killer for werewolves huh?"

"Not as much as Wolfsbane would be," he teased

And in that moment, Derek decided to take a risk, do something... daring

Something he had never done before

He took a step closer, very gently cradling Stiles' face and leaning down before pressing a soft, chaste kiss on his lips

In the background, coming from the snowglobe, some sort of love song melody began to play

And thus began the tradition that every year, Stiles would make Derek a new- and COMPLETELY unique- snowglobe for his birthday

A tradition that continued every single year, even after they had kids of their own and started the new tradition of both becoming "Santa" to deliver presents every Christmas Eve

(Stiles' father was a little bit jealous that he hadn't thought of that before, actually)

And there was one more tradition, one that Derek introduced Stiles to, every year after the presents were all delivered, they rushed into the workshop's ballroom so they could see the globe lit up with all of the children who had gifts, who still believed

Every year, Derek swears, there are more lights than the year before


End file.
